Unexpectedly, there are a wide variety of bile duct and gallbladder diseases which include cholangitis, cholecystitis, biliary dys-kinesia (bile filling up the gall bladder, discharge function disorder), cholelithiasis, etc., and these diseases not infrequently develop into chronic diseases. Operations encounter difficulties and do not always afford good results.
Accordingly, it is important to use cholagogues and like agents for causing bile to normally flow into the duodenum via the bile duct without stagnation, for preventing formation of gallstones and for dissolving gallstones for treatment.
We have carried out research on the medicinal efficacy of components of a Japanese traditional drug, "Kiogan", and found that (+)-borneol has a totally unexpected, strong and sustained activity to promote the flow of bile and to dissolve gallstones and further that other borneols also have similar activity. Thus, the present invention has been accomplished.